Lansinoh 2-in-1 double electric breast pump review

We never quite got into the swing of expressing with my first son. Alex had tongue-tie so badly that I relied on a manual pump to feed him for the first few weeks of his life. I remember sitting there, sore and exhausted in the small hours of the morning, sometimes with nothing to show for my efforts but a few measly millilitres of milk.

Thankfully the tongue-tie got sorted but, disheartened by my experience, expressing was relegated to an occasional measure for the odd night out rather than a regular part of our routine.

Since becoming a mum for the second time I’m starting to consider expressing for different reasons. With a toddler and a newborn to look after, sleep and spare time are hard to come by in our household so I’m determined to delegate to Dad for daily bottle feeds in a bid to claim back some much-needed ‘me’ time.

An efficient and comfortable pump was a must for me and the Lansinoh 2-in-1 Double Electric Breast Pump promises to deliver on both scores.

Buyer’s guide to breast pumps

A trusted brand for millions of mums, Lansinoh boasts a range of best-selling products from breast pads and breastmilk storage bags to its life-saving cream for cracked and sore nipples (where would we be without it?).

The US company has also become a market leader for breast pumps in recent years, alongside the likes of Philips AVENT, Ameda and Medela.

Since its launch in 2012, Lansinoh’s 2-in-1 Double Electric Breast Pump has won a raft of awards - but are the accolades justified?

Retailing widely at £164.99 the Lansinoh 2-in-1 sits comfortably in the mid-range bracket for electric pumps.

Similar options are the Ardo Calypso Double Electric Breast Pump (£134.95), while Philips AVENT has a double pump for £265 and the trusted Medela Swing Maxi is £179.99.

You can buy the Lansinoh Double Electric Breast Pump from John Lewis, Amazon, and Kiddicare.

Watch 5 things you need to know about the Lansinoh 2 in 1 pump

How easy is it to set up the Lansinoh 2 in 1 double electric breast pump?

You’ll need to put in around half an hour’s prep to read up on the pump and road-test it. The kit comprises 30 pieces, which felt a bit overwhelming at first, plus it took a while to cross-reference the pump with the detailed diagrams of how to assemble the equipment (it doesn’t help that the print in the manual is super-small).

But once I’d got my head round the instructions I found the set-up very straight-forward. By my second or third attempt at expressing I didn’t need to refer to the guide at all.

Expressing breast milk – everything you need to know

Are the instructions easy to follow?

They’re a bit patchy in places. For instance, the diagrams don’t indicate which way round to insert the purple diaphragm into the Expression Set. It turns out unless you place it arrow-side up the suction won’t work. It took me a while to figure this out – I thought I had a faulty pump until I tried flipping the diaphragm over.

The manual also left me confused about how best to sterilise the equipment - only boiling before use is specified.

A browse of the Lansinoh website reveals that all the washable parts of the pump can be steam sterilised in the microwave – apart from the breast cushions (apparently the purple rims can lose their elasticity when microwaved).

Lansinoh’s very helpful customer service team tells me that these are best hand washed in hot soapy water, but it wouldn’t hurt to add this information into the manual to remove all doubt.

What types of breast pumps are there?

Watch how to use the Lansinoh 2 in 1 Double Electric Breast Pump

Are there any hidden extras?

The kit comes with an adaptor but batteries aren’t included. It takes six AAs to power this pump and I was down to one bar of battery power after just half an hour’s use – an expensive way to express if you plan to pump on the go.

Also, unlike some other double pumps on the market, such as the Medela Swing Maxi – this isn’t a hands-free product so you’ll have to invest in a special hands-free pumping bra if you want to multi-task while you express. You can get one for around a tenner on Amazon or Ebay but a quality bra will set you back around £40.

Is it easy to clean?

Having a baby can make you obsessed about cleanliness - I became a demon steriliser with my first son. But taking my old Tommee Tippee pump out of storage recently I was alarmed to see that the tubing had turned brown.

You can never be 100 per cent sure that narrow tubes are mould-free - they’re traditionally the most fiddly part of a pump to clean - but the Lansinoh 2-in-1 takes this whole hygiene headache out of the equation. The pump is designed so that milk doesn’t even enter its tubes. There’s no need to wash them - you can just throw them back in your black kit bag once you’re done - a feature that gave me real peace of mind.

The parts of the pump that do come into contact with milk can be popped in the dishwasher, although it’s recommended that the delicate valves and diaphragms are hand-washed if you want them to last. This meant I often ended up just washing all the equipment by hand.

Is the pump comfortable to use?

Having cornered the market with their super-soothing nipple cream, it follows that comfort is key in Lansinoh’s breast pump designs. The 2-in-1 lets you tailor an expressing session to suit your comfort levels in a of number of ways:

• Breast cushions are supplied in two sizes (you’ll know which pair fits better as soon as you put them on - if the size is wrong you get an uncomfortable pinching sensation).
• There are three different ‘styles’ or speeds of suction - a unique feature of the Lansinoh 2 -in-1. Initially I dismissed this as an unnecessary extra (I wasn’t aware I had a breast pumping ‘style’…) but after a bit of experimenting I found that a faster setting suited me during the day, while the slower express felt more relaxing at night and also helped with sensitivity.
• The level of suction is adjustable with eight different strengths to choose from - a really welcome feature for me. My baby Eddie has partial tongue tie which means he can’t always latch on properly.

As the day goes on, my nipples can get quite sore so a lower setting at night was a must for me - especially for double expressing, which I had never tried before using this pump. At first I wasn’t a fan - it can feel quite intense and invasive pumping both breasts at the same time - but I quickly discovered that lower suction makes it a lot more manageable.

How loud is the pump?

The Lansinoh 2-in-1 claims to be “low noise compared to other breast pumps on the market” and I was disappointed at first. Placed on my bedside table, it sounded like a mobile phone on vibrate - only louder - and let off an unfortunate bovine moan (not ideal for a product that already makes you feel a bit like a cow). Still, I managed to express while Eddie slept during the day without disrupting him, and my husband and I quickly managed to zone out the sound while we watched TV.

A lot of online reviews and user comments rave about how quiet this product is and I started to wonder what I was doing wrong. It turns out the surface you put the pump base on makes a big difference to the sound: placed on our sofa the noise was substantially muted and relatively quiet.

Even at its loudest the Lansinoh 2-in-1 is less noisy than my previous electric pump (a Tomee Tippee Closer to Nature that had a heavy drill-like drone) and less attention-grabbing than my squeaky Medela Harmony manual pump. But wherever you place the base, its noise can’t quite match the quiet purr of my friend’s Medela Swing Maxi Double Electric Breast Pump.

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Is the pump efficient?

I was really impressed with the amount of milk it produced. During the day I frequently got around 160 mls from a 15-minute double express - twice the amount of a single session of the same length. Even at night when my milk supply is at its lowest, I know I can count on getting around 80ml - enough to buy me three or four hours’ sleep.

Storing breast milk – your essential guide

Is it portable?

Very. Whether you’re single or double expressing, the kit is fairly lightweight and comes with a discreet black bag to pop it all into – ideal if you want to take it into work or on weekends away.

MadeForMums verdict:

The whole Lansinoh experience feels like a world away from my manual pump days. With its flexible speed and suction settings expressing is always comfortable, even when I’m at my most sensitive.

I also know I can rely on it to pump out a decent amount of milk, whatever the time of day. And because cleaning and assembling is easy, fitting in a quick express before going out or off to bed never feels like a big deal.

Apart from the unpredictable sound it makes - which for me rules out public use - this is the perfect breast pump.

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